Baumgartner lands
I couldn’t watch his 23-mile free-fall because I was pretty sure he was going to die because so many little things could go wrong and kill him. I’m glad he didn’t;
Daredevil Felix Baumgartner has landed safely on earth — and in the record books — after a supersonic leap from the edge of space.
The Austrian thrill-seeker broke the world record for the highest skydive.
During the first 35 seconds of his leap, it is estimated Baumgartner accelerated from zero to 690 miles per hour, making him supersonic for almost a minute of the leap, which lasted nearly 10 minutes.
So I can watch it now. Congratulations, Felix, glad you’re still among us.
Category: Breaking News
Float altitude for the balloon was 128,022 ft to 128,177 ft (24+ miles up)
Jump altitude was 128,177ft at 1:06PM CDT. This exceeded Jim Kittinger’s record of 102,800′ in 1960, and Kittinger was right there doing the pre-jump checklist with Baumgartner.
The outside temperature at that height was 16.3F
Maximum speed reached by Baumgartner was 729 MPH
He popped his chute at 4 min 11 sec, just short of Kittinger’s record freefall of 4:30+/-, and made a safe landing.
I spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon watching this. Could not take my eyes off of it. This does more than set records. It creates data for research, and gets people interested in doing something besides sit on the couch and play video games.
And on the anniversary of Chuck Yeager’s historic flight in the X-1. Ill see your Mach 1 in an airplane and raise you Mach 1 in a space suit without an airplane. Nice walk on landing, glad Felix is back safely on solid ground.
I was going to send in this story earlier, especially considering the military angle to it (breaking Kittenger’s record), but didn’t think it would be posted anyways.
Ever since I heard Felix was going to attempt this a while ago, been waiting for this moment.
My heart was pounding as Felix sat right on the edge of the capsule ready to jump.
The guy has one of the biggest balls on the planet.
“clip not found.”
It was amazing… caught the live stream.
He landed STANDING. I still have chills.
Watched the whole thing and was really excited for Felix Baumgartner’s jump and what it means for him and the scientific community. Man can survive a supersonic drop from those heights,co o l ! And Yes! On the day BG. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in ’47.
I’m no physicist, but I thought terminal velocity was around 200 MPH.
Wow! It was just amazing! I just about had a heart attack when he took that first step! On such a historic day too, very cool.
I really think private industry is the future of the space program. They are unencumbered by government bureaucracy and risk avoidance.
Live press conference right now…
http://www.redbullstratos.com/live/
Common Sense: in the lower atmosphere for a prone body with arms/legs extended, you’re correct. However, arms and legs pulled tight against the body and/or a head-down attitude reduces drag, allowing a higher speed even at lower altitude.
Terminal velocity is caused by drag balancing the acceleration of gravity, resulting in a stable speed vice continued acceleration. Air drag is directly related to the density of air through which a body passes. At higher elevations, air density is much lower – and thus there’s much less drag. Air is too thin for nearly anyone to breathe at 20,000′ – and continues to get thinner as you go higher.
I’d guess Baumgartner’s top speed was at an altitude well above 20,000 feet. But that doesn’t really matter. The man had guts – and is now assured of a place in history.
Excellent job dude!
Let me correct the article though. Your blood, as long as it stays in your body, will not boil if your body is exposed to a vacuum and your lungs will be damaged only if you take a breath and try to hold it prior to being exposed to one. The blood boiling rumor is also misleading because people believe your blood gets hot, which it doesn’t.
I was watching him jump and it was silence while he was tumbling before he got control and started to dive. Kittenger was there talking to him the whole way. I was kinda nervous because he wasn’t talking for a while, so I wonder if he was disoriented for quite a bit. My heart was pounding out of my chest when he took that initial leap.
I watched it on CNN and online because CNN was too chickenshit to show the live event in case something went wrong. I guess if CNN had been around in 1969 nobody would have seen Niel Armstrong and Buzz Aldren land on the moon until 10 minutes after it happened.
Did they have a second chute for his balls?
I am waiting for the first person perspective chest camera footage.
I am thinking this exclusive footage will be part of a longer television documentary type show.
The first part where Felix was spinning out of control will be some crazy footage.
As he hit the lower layers, he did slow down. 729 was his top measured speed.
The ultimate jumpmaster pass. Congratulations.
How do you top this? Mmmm, gotta think this opened the door to bunch of experienced thrill seekers w/ the cash and willing to endure lengthy training/prep time required.
Gives a whole new perspective to HALO insertion. We could put an ODA in without even showing up on radar.
Excellent research tool. Totally documented.
Pretty fucking sad when Red Bull has a better manned space program than NASA.
@20 – WORD.
Suit instrumentation indicates his top speed was 833.9 MPH. That’s Mach 1.24! That booming sound was his cajones smacking together.
It was pretty cool watching and seeing him step out of the capsule before jumping and seeing that the blue sky was well below him and a light black color above….
And those first few minutes when he fell where there was virtually no air pressure and thus little resistance to the pull of gravity, man he was really screaming down…that little platform and then that big step off and falling…big balls for sure…
@ 14 Air Cav. It is rumored that becasue of the size and density of his balls. Two MOD G-12 CARGO PARACHUTE. 64′ DIAMETER were used.
BRAVO ZULU to the Jumper and his team.
Master Chief I about luckily no coffee was in when I read that….
Oh here are some awesome pics….
http://thechive.com/2012/10/15/felix-baumgartner-breaks-sound-barrier-as-he-free-falls-from-space-29-photos-video/
My heart still skips a beat when he jumps from the platform…
The smartest company on the planet that Felix “Big Balls” Baumgartner jumped onto from the edge of space is Red Bull. Every CEO of alll of the companies that could have sponsored the jump is probably thinking of taking the same jump without a chute about now.
Celebrating this Aussie’s great triumph is certainly warranted. However, let’s not forget the accomplishments of the Irish. Please see related story: http://www.gizmag.com/tredalo-giant-hamster-wheel-raft/24513/
Here is helmet cam footage of decent. http://gizmodo.com/5951725/first-head-cam-footage-from-daredevils-space-jump
@29. Hey! Yes, he was attempting to cross the Irish Sea running in a hamster wheel but he is an ENGLISH engineer, not an Irishman. Also, he is a wet English engineer. The hamster wheel sank.